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Few investors have noticed that rents are finally covering mortgage payments again in residential real estate. In many regions for the first time in years, rental income can pay the mortgage on smaller residential properties. We’ve waited a long time for this opportunity.

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Sure, the lowly check will be with us for a while. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t help send checks the way of the dodo bird. According to a Federal Reserve System study, check usage is in steep decline, and checks now represent only 30 percent of all non-cash payments. Electronic payments are now the clear winner with consumers.

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Over the last several months I have interviewed 50 of the most successful property managers across the United States. One thing I consistently heard over and over from the property managers, is the importance of having good people skills. The five critical people skills identified were:

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In this January 20th webinar video recording, Jackie Ramstedt, nationally renowned Keynote Speaker and Performance Consultant for the property management industry, shares her perspective on how to establish a world-class approach to your customer service programs with specific goals for every member of your team.

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In my last post “10 Tips for Property Managers Using Facebook”, we discussed the most important things you need to know to get your community Fan Page started on Facebook. Now that you have a Fan Page, what do you do?

Here are 5 ideas for building your audience on Facebook.

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In the multifamily business world, January is a notoriously difficult month for us. Whether it’s the propensity for snow, the cold wind, or the fact that USA and TNT keep running excellent marathons of TV shows, we just have a hard time getting foot traffic in the door. Don’t let the blustery weather cool your renting power!

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Our law firm is experiencing a dramatic increase in the number of calls we receive concerning an irate tenant who is displaying signs and threats of violence. These threats are directed at on-site management, maintenance personnel or even independent contractors hired to perform work on the property. This article addresses one unique course of action [...]

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When she was in 8th grade, as is tradition in my family, my sister got her first set of matched luggage. It was dark blue with tan piping and I remember it was from JC Penny’s. For 8th grade promotion, I think she received all the pieces to that luggage set that she hadn’t gotten [...]

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If you thought 2009 was an unforgettable year for real estate, property managers and residents, wait till you see what unfolds in the year ahead. Here are two of the trends.

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I love Chris Brogan’s articles and have been reading them for quite some time now. Chris is a renowned social media expert with a history of helping businesses create online relationships with their audience. So it was with great pleasure that I read his most recent post, “If I were a Realtor.”

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SoftwareAdvice.com recently sent out a survey to learn more about how property managers are using technology in their business.
A few interesting highlights:
1. Almost half of the companies surveyed grew their business last year – either growing by increased revenue or more units. This is great to hear in a struggling market! But how did they [...]

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Facebook is opening doors for property managers to engage in conversation with residents and their local community. The question everyone wants to know is, how? It’s easier than you might think! Here are 10 tips for apartment communities using Facebook.

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On December 15 AppFolio hosted a joint webinar with Multifamily Insiders and brought in a special guest speaker, Lisa Trosien. In the video below, Lisa shares her perspective on marketing trends, social media, tips and creative ideas from around the country to help you create a great plan for marketing your vacancies and property management [...]

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If you had an unlimited budget for upgrading your properties you wouldn’t need an article like this one. In the current economic reality, we have to be creative and financially careful when we are trying to make our units more appealing.

As a property manager, you know what it is like to have a tight schedule and an even tighter budget, so I thought I’d share with you some simple and “cheap” ways to spruce up your inventory to attract new residents.

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Whether it’s the food, time of year, or the weather, there’s something about the holiday season that makes people more social. That makes this a great time for property managers to bait some resident retention by using smaller gatherings or groupings. Here are four ideas to get you started.

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Welcome to PropertyManager.com’s live coverage of the 25th Annual TRENDS Conference and Trade Show. 200 exhibitors and over 1,500 attendees will be filing into the Washington State Convention Center in downtown Seattle, WA to attend the 2009 TRENDS show. Check back here often for updates.

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In a recent webinar, we reviewed four accounting best practices property managers should be doing to close out 2009 and prepare for 2010. We talked through these best practices and demonstrated how to enact them using our web-based property management software but they are definitely applicable if you’re using a different type of software.

Below is the full recording of the webinar

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We used to ignore sites like Apartment Ratings and tell our people to try to just forget they were there and not take things personally. In the last two years though, the shift of the social media model has required a reexamination of our silence, and it’s been decided, by pretty much everyone out there, that it’s time to respond to online public resident feedback.

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The median home in San Francisco sold for around $800,000 at the market top three years ago. Then prices collapsed, falling 45% according to the Case-Shiller home price index.
But an interesting thing has been happening lately. Home prices in San Francisco appeared to have bottomed in March. According to the same Index, they’ve been up [...]

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On Thursday, Nov 12th we hosted a seminar in San Francisco. Daniel Bornstein, Landlord Attorney with Bornstein and Bornstein (www.bornsteinandbornstein.com) presented an insiders view on how to avoid common property management mistakes that cost your business money and result in potential liability.
View more presentations from AppFolio
Top 10 Property Management Pitfalls

Failure to draft and execute outstanding [...]

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As a property manager and landlord attorney, I know firsthand how stressful it can be when terminating a tenancy. The loss of rent, cost to retain an attorney and a resident “gaming the system” to delay the eviction can create incredible anger for the unfortunate landlord.

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The smartest tip I can give to a “green” property manager is to let all your residents and prospective residents know that you’re an environmentally-thoughtful manager.
This sends the message that you care about the properties you manage and the well-being of the people who rent or lease those properties. It also tells the community that [...]

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We recently held a contest here at PropertyManager.com asking property managers to submit their worst move-out photo(s) to be entered into a drawing for an iPod shuffle. We thought it best not to disclose any names because these photos are just too gross. So, if you’re having a hard day remember that it [...]

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Do any of these questions sound familiar to you?
“I have a resident who wants grab bars installed in her shower. Are we required to install them for her?”
“Our property was built in the 1970s. Today, one of our residents came in to the office and said that he needs a ramp built over some steps [...]

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